Super Mario Land Zero and a Half
by LordBudFerg
Summary: Set between Lost Levels and Super Mario Land. Just days after rescuing Peach, the Mario Bros. find themselves on another quest, this time to stop Kamek.


To fit with the Super Mario Bros.-based theme, I referred to Bowser as King Koopa throughout the story(or at least the parts he appears in) until the end. Of course, some characters from later in the series like Kamek(who is the main villain), the Master, Tatanga, King Boo, Birdo, Syrup, and Daisy make appearances too, but the story primarily consists of Mario, Luigi, Peach, Toad, and the basic minions of the series. Donkey Kong's in the story as well. If Peach seems a bit out of character and has some odd powers, well, she's supposed to. The fights at the beginning may seem a bit short, but they get longer and tougher as the story continues onward. I also answer such mysteries as how the Marios came to meet the good Birdo and why Kamek looks young even though he's obviously old.

And no, Peach is not meant to be convincing; it's supposed to be obvious.

**Super Mario Land 0.5**

Note: This story is set between Super Mario Bros. Lost Levels and Super Mario Land. For more info, see Making Sense of It All over at Lemmy's Land.

Prologue: Wrath of King Koopa

Mario and Luigi stand on the bridge within King Koopa's castle, doing battle against the behemoth. The fight's been waging on for some time now, and all three are obviously worn down quite extensively. As Mario leaps at King Koopa and begins to throw a fireball, the Koopa ducks and, using his tail, knocks the shorter of the two plumbers off of the bridge and toward the molten rock below. On his way down, however, Mario is lucky enough to get his hands around one of the old, rusted chains hanging off the bridge.

Seeing that his brother is safe, Luigi runs at the king and jump-kicks him in the jaw, knocking the large turtle to the ground. Just as he is about to move in for the kill, Luigi finds that three odd floating shapes have encircled him: a circle, a square, and a triangle. Before he can react, Luigi finds himself thrown through the air by unseen forces and lands in a cell next to the one Princess Peach Toadstool and her retainer Toad are being kept in. King Koopa immediately runs to the cell and slams the bars on it down. Mario jumps back up onto the bridge, and finds himself face to face with not just the Koopa king, but a strange Koopa wearing a blue robe and blue hat, as well as glasses and red shoes. He holds a wand in his hand and looks old, much moreso than Koopa.

"He he he he," the Koopa chuckles to the confused-looking plumber, "I am the leader of the Magikoopa, Kamek, and I will be your demise!"

The Magikoopa launches a spell toward the remaining plumber, who rolls out of the way quickly. When King Koopa tries to throw Mario back into the line of the spell, the plumber slides underneath him and kicks the Koopa into the line of the spell. The king upon impact is sent flying off of the side of the platform, landing in the lava itself.

"I see you beat my king," Kamek says to Mario angrily, "but a little lava is nothing against a Koopa!"

Kamek rushes the human, who jumps into the air and stomps on his head before throwing a fireball at his stomach with such impact as to send the Magikoopa flying off the bridge and into the fires below.

Upon successfully defeating the two, Mario runs over and fireballs open the cells containing Peach and Luigi.

Chapter 1: Here's Kamek!

"Mario and Luigi, once again the two of you have saved the Mushroom Kingdom from the evil King Koopa," Peach says to the two brothers as Toad stands next to her. The four, as well as tons of people from the nearby city of Toad Town, are within Princess Peach's castle. "Alas, all I can offer in return for your service to my kingdom is a thank you."

"It's no trouble at all," Mario replies before taking a bow to the princess. Luigi does the same before saying something himself.

"I only wish I could've helped out more."

"Thank you both once again!" Peach exclaims. "If you ever feel like stopping by, feel free to-"

Peach's sentence is cut off when the front door to the castle begins to shake violently. The sounds of slamming, clawing, yelling, and, oddly enough, barking begin to join in with the shaking.

"Wha- what's going on?" Peach asks as the door flies off its hinges and lands at her feet. In walks an enormous army of Koopa Troopas, followed a large black ball with eyes and teeth being ridden by none other than the lead Magikoopa himself, Kamek. The Chomp barks out a tune, and the Magikoopa laughs evilly as the two Mario Bros. assume a fighting stance.

"You two are so entertaining," the elderly Koopa says before starting to shout, "Shame that I won't be able to deal with you again. Kill them!"

Kamek disappears in a puff of smoke and the Koopas and Chomp immediately charge the brothers. Peach takes off upstairs, as do her visitors, while Mario, Luigi, and Toad stick around to hold them off.

* * *

Toadette runsthrough the halls looking for a room to hide in that isn't already locked.

_I've gotta hurry,_ Toadette thinks as she hurries through the hallways, _I doubt Mario, Luigi, and Toad can hold them off for too long._

Toadette then sees an open door ahead of her with a strange golden light shining out from it. Curious, the Mushroomer runs inside and looks around, seeing nothing. She turns around...

Bam! A wand comes flying at the girl, knocking her to the ground, unconscious. The wand's possessor snickers before tossing the girl over his shoulder. As the two begin to disappear from the area, the attacker thinks to himself, _Ha! Perfect! If Kamek's plan works, I'll soon become General Tutankoopa!

* * *

_Peach stands in another hallway, having gone through to ensue that everyone had safely gotten into a room, facing Kamek, who apparently has been in the castle this entire time.

"Kamek, King Koopa really needs to grow up and move on, while you should stop doing everything he tells you to do," Peach tells the Koopa. She has her parasol in hand and is clearly ready to fight if there is a need to.

"Dear Princess Toadstool," Kamek says sarcastically before switching to a cruel, sadistic tone, "This is entirely my plan! The king is not in on it in the slightest. And even if this was his plan, what would you do about it? Huh, Princess? Do you really think you could possibly survive in battle against the greatest Koopa magician in history?"

"No, I don't," Peach replies quietly, "But you have to except that you're past your prime, and your magic is nothing close to what it once was."

"You're right, Princess Toadstool. But I am still entirely capable of defeating one as weak as you with great ease."

* * *

Mario and Luigi continue taking out Koopas left and right, while Toad is locked in battle against the Chomp(on the losing end, of course).

"This isn't working, Mario!" Luigi yells to his brother, "If we're going to beat them, we've gotta think of something, fast!"

"I've got an idea, Luigi. You keep them busy and I'll be right back."

Mario jumps through the crowd of Koopas and runs out the door. As the Koopas turn to follow, Luigi comes flying down at them, stomping on Troopas left and right, though to not much avail. Toad, meanwhile, is busy dodging the Chomp as carefully as possible and trying to discover a way to harm it.

"That's it... got it!"

Toad jumps onto the railing of the stairs, then leaps from that onto the Chain Chomp's back. He wraps his arms around it begins to pull until eventually raising the large black ball over his head.

"Wow, didn't know you were that strong, Toad," Luigi says to his Mushroom friend while continuing to battle the Koopas.

"Well, we haven't known each other for long either," Toad answers before chucking the Chomp face-first onto a group of Koopa Troopas. Just as he does this, Mario comes in carrying what appears to be a water hose. He begins to spray it onto the floors, being careful not to hit the walls.

"What good will water do us?" Luigi asks.

"It's not water," Mario answers, "This is far more dangerous. You and Toad better go outside."

"What is it then?" asks the Mushroomer as he and Luigi head past Mario and out the door.

"Gasoline."

The Koopas look startled upon hearing this as Mario does a backflip out of the building and tosses a fireball into the room. Their eyes go wide as they realize their fates...

BOOM!

"Alright, Toad, Luigi, go plug the water hose into where it should go and turn it on, fast!" The two run and do as instructed. Mario sprays the fire out, after quite a struggle, and then the group runs upstairs to the others... or is about to when a bunch of flower petals form in front of them and swarm around, leading to one Princess Peach appearing in front of them.

"I didn't know you could do that, Princess," Toad tells his leader, quite curious.

"I can do lots of other stuff too, Toad. I like to keep this kind of thing secret, so that I may use it on my enemies when in danger."

"I understand that Princess, but why didn't you just use that to escape from King Koopa?"

"I can't use this to go through strong objects like steel and rock. I only can use this for softer materials such as wood."

"I... see..."

"If you'll excuse us Toad," Peach says to her right-hand, "I have business to discuss with Mario and Luigi."

Toad nods and complies, walking out of the castle and standing outside.

"So, Peach," Mario starts up, "What's going on?"

"Ah, yes. I had a confrontation with Kamek in the hallway. It turns out that he is working on his own, hoping to take the Mushroom Kingdom for himself. It also seems that King Koopa is dead."

"So what do we have to do to stop Kamek?" Luigi asks, "It's not as though we know where he resides."

"The two of you must venture out of Toad Town and into Dark Land itself into an area known as the Warp Zone. This place should take you to the areas you will need to go to in order to defeat Kamek's minions, including Tutankoopa."

"Tutankoopa? Who's he, and what's so special about him?" Luigi questions.

"He's just a Magikoopa, but the reason I brought him up is because he kidnaped Toadette."

"Toadette? You mean he took her-" Mario inquires, but is interrupted.

"Correct. To Dark Land, to Kamek."

"Well, I suppose we will have to go save her and stop Kamek," Luigi says to the Princess, "But what do you mean by 'Kamek's minions'? I thought only the Magikoopa worked for Kamek."

"This is not the case. Kamek has many, many minions at his disposal. Some of these are nothing to worry about, such as the Dry Bones and Boos, but he also has many powerful servants who could pose quite a challenge to the two of you. Either way, that is not important. Go to the Forever Forest. I'll meet you there in a few minutes and guide you through the land."

The two plumbers walk out of the castle and head into the woods of the Forever Forest. Once they are just inside, they begin a sparring contest to get some practice in for their next quest. Just out of their line of sight, Toad walks by and goes behind a tree. A flash of light later, Kamek emerges from behind the same tree. He ducks behind another, and another flash of light occurs.

The two Mario Bros. continue their sparring special until they see Peach approach. They stop and turn to her.

"Alright, Peach, so where is this warp pipe we have to go through?"

"It's right below where I am standing. All you have to do is," Peach steps to the right and kicks away a pile of leaves, revealing a warp pipe, "uncover it." The Princess goes down the pipe, and the two brothers jump down it as well. The short Mushroom that is Toad comes just behind them and goes into the magical pipe as well.

Chapter 2: Birdo in Wart's Castle

The two brothers land in the Warp Zone and see Peach standing before them.

"All I can offer the two of you is guidance. My powers are not of offensive capabilities, and so I will merely show up on occasion and offer what I can." The Princess disappears in a cloud of petals upon saying this.

"Don't you find Peach to be acting a little... odd?" Luigi asks of his brother.

"Well, we just met her and, you know, her castle was attacked so I guess that's why."

"Yeah... I guess."

The two then see a strange pink dinosaur-looking creature with a bow on her head and a strange nose looking somewhat like a bazooka.

"Follow me to your deaths, humans," the creature yells at them before running into a warp-pipe marked "Wart's Palace."

"I'm betting that's Birdo," Luigi says sarcastically as the two brothers run into the pipe. They arrive just outside of a tall palace. A long flight of stairs leads into the building, and the skies around it are dark. Rain pours down from the clouds above.

"Wow, certainly got the whole 'creepy but subtle' kind of feel to this place, don't they?" Luigi asks as the two brothers climb the steps to the building. Inside, they see the creature that is Birdo staring down at them with two Paratroopas behind her.

"So, our guests have arrived? Very well. Paratroopas, you know what to do with them."

The two Paratroopas fly at Mario and Luigi while Birdo continues onward, further into the palace. Mario grabs one Paratroopa and swings it around, throwing it into a wall. He then hops onto the winged Koopa's back and begins to steer the creature toward the other one. As Luigi throws his Paratroopa toward Mario, Mario jumps off of his and the two collide, both landing on the floor unconscious. The two take to running up the stairs and in the direction Birdo went. The two find themselves in front of an enormous flight of stone stairs leading all the way to the roof of the building.

"I take it Birdo's waiting up there," Mario tells his brother before the two start to run up the steps. After a long run, the two see Birdo standing before them, staring at them angrily. A Warp Pipe lies just behind her.

"How dare you enter this land!" Birdo yells at the two before starting to fire eggs at both. Mario jumps onto one of the projectiles and grabs it, tossing it at the dinosaur. She hits the ground, hard, but not hard enough as she leaps to her feet and sucks Luigi into her nose, shooting the plumber back-first into a stone column. Mario charges at Birdo, only to be jumped onto. The dinosaur begins clawing at Mario until she feels something grab her tail. She turns her head slightly to see Luigi, who promptly begins to spin the dinosaur above his head before tossing her to his brother. Mario catches her and headbutts her a few times before tossing her toward the pipe. Birdo lands and turns away, running into the pipe. Just as the two brothers are about to go in after her, they see the familiar sight of petals forming in front of them, causing Princess Peach to appear before them.

"So much for help," Luigi says to the princess, "She attacked us!"

"Yes, she did, but this is only because she is under a spell making her loyal to Kamek." The Princess then pulls out a beaker full of a green liquid and lays it in Mario's hand. "If you can make her drink this, she should return to normal. Do not expect the next battle to be as simple as this was, however."

And with that, Peach disappears. The two brothers look toward each other and nod before charging into the pipe. The two emerge in another area, where there is no lightning or rain. The sky is, however, dark and a pit of lava surrounds the area on which they are standing. They see, in addition to Birdo, two other Birdos before them: a red one with an orange bow and a green one with another orange bow.

The Green Birdo jumps into the air and spits a fireball at the two brothers, who both roll out of the way. The Red Birdo then launches a flaming egg at Mario, who is hit and just barely avoids flying off the platform. Luigi pulls his brother to his feet and then the two both charge the Birdos, only for Birdo the Birdo to spit an egg at them, knocking the two to the ground before they can hit. The Green Birdo pulls Luigi to his feet and punches him back down, while the Red Birdo continues to launch flaming eggs at Mario, who barely dodges. As the Red Birdo charges at Mario, who is now standing at the edge of the platform, the plumber ducks and trips the dinosaur, sending her plummeting into the molten rock below. The Green Birdo spits another fireball at Luigi, who dodges and then jumps into the air, kicking her in the face.

Mario, meanwhile, is on top of Birdo, having pinned her down, and is working on pouring the liquid into her nose-thing. After making her consume it, Mario jumps off and grabs the Green Birdo from behind as Birdo stands up.

"Where am I?" she asks aloud as she stands up. She then looks at Mario and Luigi, and sees that they have caught the Green Birdo. "And who are you two?"

The two brothers introduce themselves and then Birdo looks at them kinda odd.

"What reason do you have to come here anyway? Nobody ever drops by here."

"We have come to save the Mushroom Kingdom from Kamek," Luigi answers Birdo. "He attacked recently and we're here to stop him from taking over before he can invade the kingdom again."

"Kamek? It's not Kamek who wants to take over the Mushroom Kingdom!"

"Not Kamek?" Mario asks.

Birdo merely turns around and runs into the Warp Pipe and does not bother supplying any more answers to the two.

"I wonder what she means by that," Mario says to his brother before Peach appears in front of them once again. The green Birdo uses the distraction to break out of Luigi's grasp and run into the warp pipe herself.

"Peach," Luigi starts, "Birdo said that Kamek is not behind this. Who is?"

"Birdo's still a bit out of it from the spell. She probably thinks that King Koopa is involved."

"Makes sense, I suppose," Mario says to himself.

"Alright. Now then, next, Mario and Luigi, you should head to the Undead Deadwoods. There, you will find the second of Kamek's personal servants in the form of King Boo."

"K-King Boo? What is he, a g-ghost or s-s-something?" Luigi asks, teeth chattering.

"Exactly right. Don't tell me you're afraid of ghosts, Luigi."

"J-Just a little."

"Well, I guess I'd better be going. I'll meet with you again after you beat King Boo." And with that, Peach disappears in a cloud of petals once more. The two brothers turn around, and head back out of the palace.

Chapter 3: King Boo Hides With the Triclydes

Mario and Luigi arrive in the Warp-Zone, spotting a transparent white figure wearing a crown going into one of the pipes.

"I'm betting that's King Boo," Mario says to Luigi before running into the pipe. Luigi shudders and slowly walks in after his brother. The two arrive inside of a dark forest and there see three ghosts floating before them.

"You... are... not... welcome..."

"Leave... or... join... us..."

"Ah great," Mario says to his shivering taller brother, "more of Kamek's minions."

"Kamek? You... offend... us! We... have... dedicated... our... afterlives... to... King... Boo!" answers one. Before the others can insert their own comments, Mario punches one in the face and kicks another.

"You... dare... attack... us?" the Boo that wasn't hit yells before biting Mario. The plumber shakes off the violent ghost and kicks it in the face before turning around and punching another again. Luigi watches all of this in terror, as Mario continues to prevail against the three ghosts. After a few minutes of fighting, the three ghosts flee, yelling for their king. The two brothers follow, assuming that they will lead to where King Boo is hiding out, and they do.

Upon reaching the hideout of King Boo, the two brothers are shocked to discover that it is not some old haunted mansion or something, but rather a cave that uses a large dome shaped like a snake head as its entrance, with another snake head, mouth closed, on each side.

"That's weird," Mario remarks as the two brothers walk into the cave. Inside, they find before them yet another hideously long flight of stairs.

"Oh g-g-great," Luigi chatters, "It b-b-builds the s-s-suspense!" The two walk up the long flight of stairs, not finding anything particularly unusual until they reach the top where they see two tall walls standing before them with eyes, legs, arms, and a mouth on each. The two are about to go past them and through the next door way when the two walls step to the side and block the entrance!

"Nice try," one of the two walls says to the brothers, "but we Whomps was commanded by da boss to keep ya from attackin' him like ya did da Birdos."

"Wait a second... why should you two obey him? After wall, he's a king of ghosts, not of stones, right?" Mario tells the two, intent upon tricking them so as to conserve energy for the next fight.

"Well, dis is true. Maybe we should stop list'nin' to da king and get our own king," one Whomp says, falling for Mario's plot.

"Yeah!" the other answers before the two go around the brothers and leave.

"Well, nice to see that these things should be easy to deal with if we run into any more of them," Mario whispers to his brother before the two enter the next room. They walk down a short flight of stairs there, finding... nothing! Absolutely no one is in the room.

"Well, m-must not be h-home," Luigi says to his brother. The taller plumber turns to leave but screams in fright when he sees what is coming into the room. Mario turns around as well, and barely dodges a gigantic Triclyde that comes out of the previous room and jumps down at him. One top of the snake's middle head rides King Boo. The Triclyde is many times larger than the typical members of its race, appearing to be so large as to be 50 feet long or so.

"Heh heh heh," King Boo snickers upon seeing the two brothers. Without saying another word, the ghost goes through the floor into the basement below. A small door in the center of the room leads down to the area as well.

"Luigi," Mario says to his brother, "I'll deal with the snake. You go after King Boo."

"G-gladly!" Luigi replies, preferring the idea of taking on a ghost over a giant three-headed snake any day. Luigi opens the door and jumps down, and Mario quickly shuts it before beginning to dodge the charges of the Triclyde.

* * *

Luigi lands in a small room. The bottom inch or two of the floor is underwater, and King Boo floats in front of him. Luigi's teeth chatter as he stares at the ghost.

"You're afraid of me, aren't you, boy? Well, you certainly should be." With that, the ghost swoops in at Luigi, who is hit and then slowly pulls himself to his feet, still looking to be in a panic.

"Face it. You have no chance of defeating me. After all, only those who don't understand us fear us, and how can you defeat what you cannot comprehend?" With that, King Boo sweeps at Luigi once more, again knocking him off his feet.

* * *

Mario again jumps out of the way of the Triclyde, being careful not to be eaten alive by the enormous snake. The Triclyde's charge has led it face-first into one of four stone pillars in the room that are holding the floor intact.

Mario, getting an idea, begins to carefully dodge the snake's attacks, intending upon using the drop that would be caused by the destruction of the pillars to defeat it.

* * *

King Boo once again knocks Luigi to the ground, laughing once more at the plumber's fright. "You are nothing, little green guy," the ghost taunts as he moves in to finish the job. Luigi takes advantage of the ghost's temporary distraction and kicks him into the corner of the room. King Boo starts to float back toward Luigi when he hears a strange rumbling noise up above him and Luigi. The king of Boos looks up, only to be crushed by a falling Triclyde from the room above. Mario runs to the side of the gaping pit in the place of the majority of the floor of the room and throws down a rope, which Luigi promptly scurries up.

"Th-that was c-c-close," Luigi says to his brother as the two walk out of the room. On a platform just out of their line of sight, Toad stands silently staring before jumping down and slowly following.

Chapter 4: Wizpig in the Shadows

Mario and Luigi walk out of King Boo's lair. Mario runs onward into the forest toward the exit, and just as Luigi is about to follow he sees flower petals swarm him as Princess Peach appears yet again.

"Peach! What's up?"

"This is very important, Luigi; you must not mention what I am about to tell you to Mario for his and your own safety. Luigi, I believe Mario may be starting to change because of the evil energy Kamek has spread throughout the lands. Keep a close eye on him. Your next destination are the Dry, Dry Ruins, where you must destroy Kamek's Sacred Fountain, the source of his power."

"Um... alright..."

Peach disappears once more and Luigi hurries to catch up with his brother. Luigi eventually reaches Mario and runs a bit further into the woods still heading to the warp pipe.

"Mario, I believe that Kamek's dark magic may be starting to affect Luigi's judgment. Watch him carefully, but do not utter a word of our conversation."

Mario runs off as Peach chuckles and disappears. The plumbers eventually rendezvous in front of the warp pipe. "Hey Luigi," Mario starts upon catching up to his brother, "I think we should find somewhere and practice a bit before going on to the Dry, Dry Ruins."

"Dry Dry Ruins?"

"Yeah. Peach told me that was our next stop while I was fighting Triclyde."

"Alright then. So, where can we practice anyway?"

Just as Luigi asks this question, a portal forms behind the two plumbers and pulls them into another area within the woods. The two land in a small alcove filled with 5 portals. A strange pig-like creature sits on a throne in the middle of the alcove, looking at the brothers.

"So, you need practice do ya? Well then you're in luck, 'cause I've got the best practice you can get right here! Name's Wizpig."

The two look around, seeing that each portal is a different color: the one that lead them there is red, and the others are blue, green, purple, and yellow.

"What do you want from us?" Luigi asks.

"Absolutely nothing. All the two of you have to do's complete my three tests and then pass my final exam. This will be all you shall need. Now then, for your first test, you must go into the yellow portal and defeat 30 Koopa Troopas. If you can complete this task, you can move on to the next test."

The two brothers jump into said portal and appear on a large bridge suspended high in the air via four ropes hanging from the mountains above just in front of a waterfall. There, they see a huge wave of Koopas charging them from each side, far too many of which to take down on their own. Mario begins to concoct a scheme to take them out more easily. The plumbers jump into the air just as the two parties of Koopas collide, and Mario promptly fireballs one of the four ropes as he and his brother hit the ground itself. They watch as the Koopas hold on to keep from being dropped into the rapids below, and Luigi then fireballs the robe holding up the other side of the one Mario hit, dumping all of the Koopa Troopas into the waters below.

The portal appears once more, pulling Mario and Luigi back into the forest. Wizpig immediately begins to talk to them, "Brilliant showing! Now then, enter the purple portal for your next test. This time, you will have to migrate your way across the stream running deep below the desert. If you fall in, it could mean death."

The two brothers shrug and jump into the portal guessing that this test will be just as simple as the last one. They appear inside of a subterranean passage that is dimly lit by candles lining the walls. A blue-hatted Toad is within a small cell in the corner, staring ecstatically at the two.

"Finally, someone's here! Get me out of here, quick!"

"What are you doing down here?" Luigi asks, confused, "And where exactly are we anyway?"

"We're below the Dry, Dry Ruins, that's where."

"Dry Dry Ruins!" the two both shout out, "Then we could go ahead and destroy Kamek's fountain while we're here!"

"Not quite," the Toad says, shaking his head, "You way too far below the main floor to get there as there are no stairs. This is the dungeon, and Tutankoopa keeps his prisoners down here until he can throw them into the fountain or take them to his superiors. I'm the only one left down here. He gets down here by teleporting, and takes his hostages to and from here in the same way."

"Tutankoopa's here?" Mario asks himself.

"Have you seen a Toad girl with a pink hat down here recently?" Luigi asks the Toad.

"Well... she was here a few days ago. Tutankoopa said something about taking her to someone named Bowser, whoever that is."

"Bowser? Don't know who that is. I wonder... maybe Tutankoopa's a double-agent or something?" Mario asks of Luigi.

"Could be," his brother answers, "Could be."

The two brothers begin to pull on the door to the cell, eventually managing to open it. The Toad runs out of the cell happily. The party of three precedes to slowly walk through the halls of the dungeon until eventually reaching a huge river running through the building with small platforms floating in it, leading across and to another section of the floor with a door having light shine brightly from it just beyond this. The three commence to carefully jumping across the platforms, being very careful to not touch the water. Eventually the three do reach the door, and go through it to find themselves outside the pyramid, standing at the edge of a river. The Toad jumps across from the platform they're on onto land.

"Thank both of you so much. I'm going to go in and see if I can't help in the fight against Tutankoopa in any way."

The Toad runs off toward the Dry, Dry Ruins. Just as the Mario Bros. are about to follow, they are once again pulled in a portal.

The two brothers land once more in the forest and glare at Wizpig angrily.

"We had the perfect opportunity to go and destroy the fountain right there!" Mario says angrily to the pig.

"You aren't ready yet," Wizpig answers, "Kamek has powerful beasts guarding that fountain. Now then, go through the blue portal to reach the remains of King Koopa's Castle, where you must survive a battle on the bridge for 5 minutes. If you survive, you will move on to your final test."

The two brothers mutter angrily and leap into the blue portal as told. Wizpig smiles evilly.

Chapter 5: The Fortress, the Psy-Guy, and the Betrayal

The two brothers land on the bridge on which they did battle with King Koopa, seeing another bridge hanging above them on which tons of Goomba-like creatures with ears and tails resembling those of raccoons doing battle against short human-looking creatures wearing robes and masks and riding pogo sticks. The brothers watch in awe as one of the Tanoombas knocks a Shyster off of the bridge and sends it flying onto the bridge on which they are standing, nearly causing the bridge to go under.

The two brothers start to dodge falling minions left and right, wondering what exactly is causing the Tanoombas and the Shysters to do such intense battle. After what feels like hours of dodging, the two finally reappear in Wizpig's area.

"I thought we were going to be in a battle, not have to survive through one being waged between two armies" Luigi says to Wizpig with a tone of anger in his voice as he and his brother get ready to head into the next portal.

"I never said you would be the ones battling. All I said was that you had to survive. Now then, go on into the portal. It will lead you to a sacred gallery containing paintings that hold the souls of those who have died there. It is said that those who die in this area will be absorbed into one of the blank paintings and imprisoned for all eternity."

The two brothers are about to reply when they are pulled into the last portal. The Mario Bros. land inside of a large room that is lit brightly. The room looks similar to Peach's gallery on the third floor of her castle. The Marios look around at the numerous paintings, then see an odd site in the corner. Walking into the corner area of the gallery, they see three paintings right in a line; a blank one sits to the far left, a painting of a red-cloaked figure wearing a white mask sits in the center, and to the right is another blank one.

Just as Mario lays his hand on the center painting, he feels something weird, almost like liquid. The two brothers step back and stare in awe as a Shy-Guy floats out from the painting, wearing an angry expression on his face. His lower arms and hands glow with a strange green fire-like substance, and a platform of similar stuff surrounds his feet and causes him to float. The Shy-Guy drops to the ground and simply says, "I'm Psy-Guy," before launching his attack. Psy-Guy floats into the air once more, and the two brothers begin to run around in circles dodging balls of green flame being thrown their way. As the two run, they occasionally uppercut the Shy-Guy, doing minimal damage. Psy-Guy soon lands a huge hit, launching his body into the ground from the air and causing a small earthquake which sends both Mario Bros. toppling through the air and crashing to the ground.

As Psy-Guy walks over to Mario and begins to punch him, Luigi gets an idea. The plumber grabs the Shy-Guy from behind and throws him into the painting from whence he came. Luigi takes a running dash and flies into the painting after him and Mario, realizing what Luigi is trying to do, follows suit.

The two land in a dark watery cave. Just ahead of them, the two brothers see that Psy-Guy looks even angrier than before. His hands start to glow once more as both brothers lift into the air, slam into each other, and fall to the ground with a sickening thud. As both pull themselves to their feet, the Shy-Guy comes running for a tackle on Mario, knocking him into the shallow waters surrounding the land on which the fight is occurring. Luigi takes advantage and kicks the Shy-Guy into the air. As Psy-Guy falls back toward the cave floor, Luigi jumps into the air with an extremely powerful uppercut, sending the psychic flying off far into the distance. As Luigi pulls Mario out from the water, the familiar feel of being pulled into a portal overtakes both...

Both brothers land and turn to see Wizpig rushing them. Thinking quickly, both roll out of the way.

"I can't believe this! I have done everything I can to kill you two so I can send in my minions to impersonate you and help me take over, and nothing works! I guess I'll just have to do this myself!"

The Mario Bros. say not a word before leaping at Wizpig, each kicking the hog in the mouth and doing minor damage.

The pig swaggers back a few steps before starting to charge once again. This time, he hits both and sends them flying back-first into a tree.

"Pathetic fools! I am the great Wizpig! There is nothing you can do to harm me!"

Mario jumps into the air and Luigi grabs his older brother by the feet, then swings him around and tosses him to Wizpig, allowing Mario to hit a very powerful uppercut. After the plumber returns to a standing base, he and Luigi begin to run in for the big finish. Luigi launches head-first at Wizpig with a move called the Green Missile, which sends the swine flying back, and Mario uppercuts him into the air and far into the distance.

Chapter 6: Left in Ruins

Mario and Luigi walk through a hallway in the Dry, Dry Ruins, looking for Tutankoopa and, more importantly, the fountain.

"I hope Toadette's alright," Mario mutters as he and Luigi arrive in a small circular room. In the center of it lies a pile of bones, with a strange dinosaur-like skull laying atop it. It has a large nose slightly resembling something along the lines of a basketball. Two Koopa Troopas stand next to the pile of bones and come charging at the brothers, only to be met with simultaneous kicks in the face. As the two brothers are about to finish the Koopas up, the pile of bones lifts in the air and forms into the fearsome creature known as Zombone.

The vicious bone dragon immediately blows a blast of fire toward Mario and Luigi, hitting both Koopas but missing the two plumbers. Mario comes running and jumps onto the creature's head, then Luigi launches and once again hits with his Green Missile. The skeletal demon roars before biting into Mario's shoulder. As another dose of fire is charged up in order to fry the plumber, Luigi jumps onto the creatures back and begins to pull its head back, saving his brother from the beast at least temporarily. Zombone roars and lifts higher into the air, slamming Luigi skull-first into the ceiling. The plumber takes a long fall down to the floor below and as Zombone moves in for the kill, Mario begins to pelt him with fireballs of his own.

The attack does little more than take attention off of Luigi, as the Zombone begins to float toward the shorter of the two brothers. As Mario jumps around as quickly as possible to keep the dragon distracted, Luigi slowly begins to pull himself to his feet. After recuperating for a second, he gets back into the fight, jumping onto Zombone's back and separating the skull from its body, causing all functions of the dragon to cease. Luigi jumps off as the dragon falls to the ground. He throws the skull aside and the Mario Bros. continue on further into the building, eventually coming into a huge room resembling a crypt. There is only one other exit in the room, and that is branching off to the left and leading up a flight of steps. A river runs through the center of the room, though a huge glowing orb sitting in the back of the room keeping the water from running off its course. As they approach the orb, knowing this is the center of the fountain, a portal forms in front of them and from it jumps the elderly Magikoopa known as Kamek.

"Pathetic fools!" Kamek yells furiously as a wave of magical energy sweeps the room and knocks both brothers to their feet. Kamek then bends over and, using his hands, takes a drink of the water running through the room. As he swallows, he begins to look younger until looking to be around 20. Upon reaching this prime age, much to the horror of both brothers, Kamek chuckles evilly and, as the two bounce back to their feet and run in to attack, punches Mario in the face and knocks him back to the ground. Luigi receives a kick in the face and falls to his stomach. As he begins to pull himself up, Kamek takes a short running start and kicks him in the gut, sending the taller plumber rolling a few feet back. He pulls Mario to his feet before throwing the human back-first into the right wall, then begins to back up as a portal opens up behind him, revealing three purple-cloaked Magikoopas and two Koopas.

"Kill them!" the now-young Kamek shouts as he jumps into the portal, which disappears a second later. The Marios pull themselves up just in time to dive out of the way of the five rushing enemies, then get an idea. Mario begins to fight the five by himself as well as possible while Luigi starts to launch an attack upon the orb. As soon as he manages to break it, he quickly dives out of the way and Mario does the same. They hurry into the next room, leaving the five enemies trapped with the magical water filling the room.

The Mario Bros. run up the stairs and there find themselves standing on one side of a room. Bars fall down and lock them in the room, and the pit leading to where they were at when they were here earlier separates the two sides of the room. Tutankoopa stands on the other side of the room holding an unconscious Toad by the throat. The Koopa throws the Toad into a cage in the corner of the room before taking a good running start, jumping from his side to the same side on which Mario and Luigi stand. Two pedestals are on the side all 3 are on, with a glowing green hammer lying on each.

Tutankoopa runs toward Mario and kicks him in the stomach with alarming speed, then jumps onto Luigi and begins to take his claws to the plumber's face. Mario grabs Tutankoopa by the neck from behind, but is thrown over the Koopa's neck and lands just shy of the pit with a sickening thud. Luigi manages to sweep the Magikoopa's legs out from underneath him, sending Tutan crashing to the ground. Luigi takes advantage of the brief stop in his opponent's assault and lands a jumping stomp on his gut. Tutankoopa bounces right back to his feet, much to both brothers' horror, and begins to launch very agile combos on both. The Marios, realizing their strategy of fighting one of a time isn't working, both begin to throw strikes toward the Magikoopa at once, hitting most of them. Tutankoopa eventually grows tired of this and flies back over the pit before starting to shoot small blasts of light at the two via his wand. Luigi ducks behind a pedestal, as his brother is much better with fireballs, and leaves the fighting to Mario. Mario rolls out of the way of the blasts then fires a shot of fire himself, with hits Tutankoopa dead-on. Tutan growls angrily and sends a large shot of light at Mario which hits and knocks him to the ground. Mario spins his way back to a standing base and fires another fireball immediately. Tutankoopa is hit once more and, growing tired of this, floats back across the pit. Upon landing, the Magikoopa kicks Mario into one pedestal and, when Luigi comes charging at him, tosses the other brother into the other. This attack causes both hammers to fall to the ground.

Each of the two Mario Bros., not sure what else to do, grabs a hammer and begins to swing violently at Tutan, eventually knocking the Koopa out with their powerful strikes. Both brothers lay the hammers back on the pedestals, then jump across and open the cage to their Toad friend.

Chapter 7: A New Friend, A New Foe

Both brothers walk through the wastelands of Vista Hill, looking for the green Birdo, who, as Peach told them, is on her way to Dark Land with Birdo, who has been captured.

"I wonder where she could be," Luigi tells his brother, "If she's got Birdo captured with her, she can't be moving very fast."

"Hard to say," Mario answers as he looks around while continuing to walk. Tanoombas and Shysters do battle in the area around them, and the mountainous region looks more like a war-field than it does anything else with all that is going on. Eventually, the two brothers walk onto a river bank next to a long, flowing river of what appears to be lava. A boat made of hardened volcanic rock sits just on the shore of the beach, and small skeletons resembling Koopas swim in the fiery rock. As the two brothers look around, a tall figure wearing a blue ninja-like uniform jumps out at them from behind a pile of rocks and attacks, kicking Luigi and punching Mario.

Mario immediately uppercuts the attacker into the air, and Luigi scores a second just after the first. The ninja lands on its feet and promptly rushes at Mario, tackling him. The attacker leaps back to its feet and then does the same to Luigi, only to get up afterwards to be grabbed by Mario and thrown onto the rock pile back-first. Mario and Luigi walk toward the figure as it grabs its mask.

"What's the deal attacking us tough g- IRL?"

"Hi, I'm Daisy," the woman mutters as she tucks the hood into her pocket.

"Why did you attack us?" Mario asks of Princess Daisy, curious, "And for that matter, why are you even here?"

"I attacked you because since I've been in Vista Hill I've been unable to trust anyone. Luckily, you two gents seem a lot more merciful than Kamek's troops."

"You still didn't tell us what you're doing here."

"I came here because I'm following an alien freak named Tatanga who's been trying to invade my kingdom, Sarasaland, recently. He even wants me to marry him! Ugh. Anyway, I just came to find out more about his cause and see what I can do to stop him. What about you?"

"We're here to stop Kamek," Mario answers. "We could help out with Tatanga on the way though."

"Thanks so much," Daisy answers happily. "I'll offer what help I can."

"Alright, well, where do we go from here?" Luigi asks of the princess of Sarasaland.

"Well, we can ride this boat over to the Combat Tombs, and from there all you have to do is cross the Bridge and you're in Dark Land. You'll find Kamek there."

The three, after getting more formally introduced and acquainted, push the boat into the lava and jump inside, slowly riding it across the river of molten rock (though they have to throw off the occasional Dry Bones). Upon reaching the tombs, they go inside and see two doorways.

"One of these leads to Dark Land," Daisy tells the brothers, "The other leads to a room in which Kamek locks all he hopes to exterminate, as he has acquired the services of some very powerful figure."

"We might as well go handle it," Luigi says, "We can go after Tatanga, the green Birdo, and Kamek after we're done."

"Sounds good Lui-" Daisy stops upon seeing an enormous purple man wearing a suit resembling that of a general standing in the doorway leading into Dark Land. Without giving it a second thought, Daisy runs after Tatanga after the alien brute runs off. She merely shouts back, "I'll make it up to you, Mario and Luigi!"

The two brothers sigh and head into the door opposite what Daisy went through, and just behind them Toad follows. They find themselves in a huge open field with a barrier wall around the edges to keep out the Dry Bones. A thick jungle grows just next to the river. The Mario Bros. hear a deafening roar coming from something that sounds like an ape, much to Mario's shock.

"I recognize that sound," Mario says to his brother as the huge figure of Donkey Kong (Jr., or the modern DK- whatever) jumps out from the jungle and over the wall. The monkey roars and promptly hits Mario with an enormous right hand, sending the plumber flying back several feet in a crumpled heap. Luigi jumps in for a kick on the simian, but is met with the same results. After both brothers are done, DK walks over and grabs Mario by the throat, beating his back on the ground several times before smashing the plumber's back over his knee. He then grabs Mario once again and tosses him into the jungle, leaving Luigi alone with Donkey.

Donkey Kong runs in for another fist, and Luigi jumps onto the fist and runs up his hulking arm before drop-kicking him square in the face, though this strike doesn't even cause DK to fall over. Luigi lands on his feet and runs at Donkey Kong, then slides through the monkey's legs and jumps onto his shoulders for a few quick slaps, jumping off before DK can grab him.

"Errrah!" the Kong rushes in for a Kong Klap, but Luigi rolls to the left and uppercuts DK once more, causing the gorilla to stagger a bit. Taking advantage of this off-balance state, Luigi runs in and scores huge jumping kick in Donkey Kong's face, stunning the simian. Just as Luigi is about to deliver a finishing blow, a gigantic vegetable flies at DK and sends the ape high into the air and back into the jungle. As he falls, Mario suddenly jumps back into the arena and looks angrily at Toad.

"Why didn't you wait for me, Toad? I am the savior of the Mushroom Kingdom, and I should have been the one to finish up that stupid monkey." Mario then turns to Luigi, "And as for you, I'm getting tired of you trying to hog all the glory. I am the leader!" And with that, Mario strikes Luigi in the face with a hard left had, knocking his brother to the ground. Toad, realizing something isn't right, throws a turnip at "Mario," knocking him to the ground and revealing him to be truly be Kamek.

"Nice try, Kamek," Toad says just before the Magikoopa disappears in a cloud of smoke. Just after this, the real Mario climbs over the side of the wall and goes to help Luigi to his feet, but is pushed away.

"I'm not so sure I can trust you," Luigi says to Mario as he stands up.

"Don't you see?" Toad starts, "This is just what Kamek wanted! You two need to realize that you can only beat Kamek with teamwork. In fact, Kamek was impersonating me back at the castle in order to safely spy on your conversation. I found out the truth, and so I came to watch your back."

"I see," Mario says as he and Luigi hug in a reconciling of sorts. Just as Mario is about to say more, flower petals envelope the three and Princess Peach appears.

"Mario, Luigi, from here your quest is almost finished. All you must do is get through Dark Land, rescue Toadette and Birdo, and defeat Kamek."

"What about me, Princess?" Toad asks.

"Oh yes, Toad. Come with me. I have a... special mission for you."

Toad and Peach walk off via a short pathway as Mario and Luigi run off to Dark Land.

Chapter 8: Tatanga on the Home Stretch

Mario and Luigi walk along the Bridge, looking out at the fiery depths surrounding Dark Land. As they reach the end of the Bridge, they see Daisy running toward them. Upon seeing the brothers, she stops for a second. "Hey Mario and Luigi," Daisy starts, "I'm on my way back to Sarasaland."

"What about Tatanga?" Luigi asks, curious.

"He's still here. I have to go home now because my country's been invaded by some guy. Don't know anything about him, but his name's Wario, or something like that. I'll talk to you two later."

"But what about Tatanga? What will you do about him?" Mario wonders aloud.

"Wait it out, I guess. As for Tatanga, well, as I said, he's still here. He wants to kill the two of you. Well, call me sometime." And with that, Daisy leaves, waving goodbye as she runs. The two brothers both sigh and continue down further into Dark Land, eventually reaching a huge circular platform floating in the lava. A large cliff sits just a foot or so off from it.

"I wonder where Tatanga is at," Luigi states as he and Mario both face the way they came. Suddenly Luigi feels a hand on his shoulder, only to spin around and see no one there. He turns to face the other way, as does Mario, and as soon as they do both are knocked to the ground by the hands of a powerful figure. Tatanga looks at the grappling gun used for his ghost-like movements and then stuffs it away before starting to attack. The alien brute picks Mario up by the shirt and begins to punch him, then tosses the red-wearing plumber to the side and begins to work on his green counterpart. Tatanga throws a multitude of punches at Luigi before finally getting off of him and walking back toward Mario, only to be hit with an uppercut. Mario, taking advantage of the downed alien, begins to pelt Tatanga with fireballs and Luigi soon does the same. Eventually, Tatanga pulls out his grappling gun and aims to take Mario's legs out from underneath him, but Luigi spots the gun and jumps on Tatanga long enough to grab it. Luigi then pulls out the rope on it to wrap it around Tatanga's neck twice with the rest of the rope going on as usual and aims the gun into the lava sending Tatanga flying into the liquid magma. Tatanga falls in with a chorus of screams of agony.

"That was easy," Luigi mumbles as he and Mario turn to head onward. As they are about to jump to the next platform...

"RAAAAAAAHHH!" Both Mario Bros. turn around and see Tatanga standing on land once more, holding onto the grappling hook and looked absolutely infuriated. Tatanga promptly charges, punching Mario straight in the gut before hitting Luigi in the throat. As Mario looks up from holding his chest, Tatanga pushes him to the ground and begins to kick-away at the shorter brother's face. As Luigi pulls himself to his feet while struggling to breath, Tatanga spins around and grabs Luigi by the throat, choking him and slowly walking to the edge from which he was thrown in order to do the same to Luigi. As Tatanga heads away, Mario grabs his feet and pulls the alien's legs out from underneath him, dropping Tatanga and Luigi both to the ground. Mario climbs onto Tatanga's back as the alien begins to rise and starts to hit shot after shot on Tatanga.

Tatanga eventually gets an idea, and falls backward while Mario is still on his back, making the plumber take damage not just from the impact but also from the weight of Tatanga crashing down upon him. The alien gets right back up and goes back to Luigi, who is still struggling for air. Tatanga kicks Luigi in the face, knocking him to the ground, and lays his enormous boot on Luigi's neck. Just before Tatanga can do the unthinkable, Mario summons a second burst of energy and bounces to his feet, attacking Tatanga and hitting him with powerful shots as quickly as possible. As the alien tries to fight back against the infuriated plumber, Mario drops to his feet suddenly and grabs Tatanga's legs, pulling on them to bring the conqueror to the ground. As Tatanga hits the rock below, Luigi, who has finally started to breathe normally again, jumps high into the air and comes crashing down on Tatanga's face at the same time Mario does on their foe's stomach. As Tatanga gasps in pain, Mario pulls him to his feet and the two brothers uppercut him at the same time into the lava below. Immediately after landing in the molten rock, Tatanga pulls out his grappling gun and fires, pulling himself into the air and keeping him suspended in air via a hook-like rock. Suddenly, Luigi looks down to see a Dry Bones tugging on his leg and gets a brilliant idea. The plumber kicks the Bones off and into the air, then kicks the Koopa skeleton straight at Tatanga. The alien gasps in horror as he sees the boney Koopa flying at him and realizes what is about to happen. It hits hard, right in the stomach, and sends Tatanga crashing and burning into the lava below. Tatanga screams as a pair of Dry Bones grabs him and pulls him into the depths below.

Chapter 9: The Mighty Magikoopa

"Great job, guys," Peach tells Mario and Luigi just after they've beaten Tatanga, "I have confidence in your ability to defeat Kamek. Do not let the Mushroom Kingdom down." And with that, Peach disappears in a cloud of flower petals, which float off through the rocky platforms and away into the distance.

"Shouldn't she have not been able to do that?" Luigi asks, confused.

"Huh?"

"She said she couldn't go through hard materials. What do you call that?"

* * *

"I still insist that there is something Peach is not telling us," Luigi says to Mario as the two walk through a large weapons factory, having finally reached their destination. The two walk up a small flight of stairs and gasp upon seeing... the Master!

"What are you doing here?" Luigi asks.

"I was sent here by Peach to rescue Toadette. She's been helping me get to here and get around inside this place."

"Peach? Has she been with you the entire time?" Mario asks, shocked.

"Pretty much. She's not here right now because she told me she had to find you two before it was too late. Well, both of you know her better than I do."

"Alright, well, we might as well work together while we're here," Mario says to the Master. The old Toad complies, and soon the three find themselves walking into a large palace. Inside, the Master immediately rushes into the dungeon below. As Mario and Luigi are about to continue and go through the huge door they see before them, they start to talk.

"I don't think we can trust 'Peach' anymore," Luigi says to his brother before turning to walk away.

_Peach was right, _Mario thinks to himself, furious at hearing Luigi say such things, _Kamek's magic is messing with Luigi!_

Mario runs and jumps, kicking Luigi in the back. Luigi falls to the ground, then gets up and turns to see Mario and becomes enraged. As the two are about to tear into each other, Peach runs into the castle via the door and gets in between two.

"Mario, Luigi, this is exactly what Kamek wa-" Peach is cut off by being hit with a blast of fire, which knocks her out. A portal then appears underneath Peach, much to the shock of the Mario Bros. They turn to see who it was who blasted the fire, and are shocked at the site of King Koopa standing before them.

"You two actually came to me, huh? Heh heh! Well then, I, King Bowser Koopa, will see to it that you are exterminated. Go into the Colosseum ahead if you want Kamek. Go into the Colosseum if you want to die." And with that Bowser walks away and enters the Colosseum. The brothers, wondering what is going on, go into the dungeon and look around the cells: Toad, Birdo, Toadette, and some human woman garbed in green and holding two sabers with one in each hand. The Master stands in the room, pushing up the door to Toadette's cell. H eventually manages to lift the bars enough for Toadette to run out, and the Mushroom quickly does so. He then moves on to the cell containing Syrup and opens it. Syrup walks out, and as the Master is about to open Birdo's cell...

"Not so fast!" the pirate captain yells as she points a sword at the elderly Toad's back, "I can tell just by lookin' at ya that you're carryin' some gold, and I want it!"

Mario and Luigi, knowing what they must do, immediately jump in and double-kick Syrup, and the Master then punches her in the stomach. The three then nod to each other and run in for a triple uppercut which knocks Captain Syrup out upon impact.

"You two go on after Kamek," the Master says to the two brothers, "I'll get the other two freed, and as soon as I find Peach we'll come out to help."

The Mario Bros. quickly say what needs to be said and leave the room, ready for the final battle.

Mario and Luigi walk into Bowser's Colosseum and walk up the steps leading to the small circular platform elevated several feet off the ground. Bowser's throne lies to the north of the platform, and an enormous audience fills the stands. Peach stands in the center of the platform, looking down.

"Peach..." Luigi starts, but he never finishes as 'Peach' nearly knocks his head off of his shoulders with a powerful smack with a frying pan. Luigi rolls off the side of the platform in pain as Mario throws a fireball at 'Peach', returning Kamek to his true form.

"A- all that time... you were-"

"Exactly," Kamek answers before beginning to claw at Mario. Mario gets hit numerous times by the now-young Magikoopa, and then begins to fight back as the two start to trade blows. Kamek soon gains the upper hand and knocks Mario to the ground with a powerful kick, all while Bowser watches with glee from his throne. Kamek, deciding that the brawling session is over, instead begins to launch powerful blasts of magic at the plumber, who gets hit by most of the attacks and takes a lot of damage and is knocked to the floor. As Kamek moves in after Mario to finish the battle early with a powerful blast of magic, Mario quickly evades and then sweeps Kamek off his feet. The plumber begins to punch Kamek as the brawl begins once more on the floor. Eventually, Mario's adrenaline kicks in and allows him to start striking harder and faster than Kamek. Mario soon manages to knock Kamek onto his back, and the plumber takes the opportunity to begin to throw fireballs at the Magikoopa.

The Koopa, however, has other plans as he begins to quickly evade everything thrown at him and soon joins Mario in standing up. Kamek takes a cheap shot in poking Mario in the eyes and, taking advantage of Mario's blinded state, transforms into Daisy. As Mario opens his eyes, he sees not Kamek but 'Daisy'.

"Daisy?" Mario asks, confused, before realizing what Kamek is up to. Mario uppercuts Kamek, returning him to normal once more, and then, while Kamek is plummeting, the plumber jumps into the air and begins to launch a combo on him in mid-air. Kamek lands dazed, and Mario takes the opportunity to jump and kick him in the jaw, knocking the Koopa to the ground. As Mario approaches to finish things up with Kamek, the Magikoopa casts another spell, this time creating a landmine-like effect and causing Mario's next step to blow him sky high.

Chapter 10: Wrath of Bowser

As Mario falls back to the floor, Kamek catches him in mid-air and slams the plumber's back over his knee. Kamek then begins to transform again, this time into Toad. Kamek, using Toad's strength, lifts Mario into the air and then let's go, dropping Mario's stomach onto the stone floor. As the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom groans, Luigi is now standing next to the platform but too dazed to help at the moment. Kamek returns to his normal form and grabs Mario by the shirt, then pulls off Mario's hat and puts it over his own to make fun of the plumber. As Kamek begins to do absurd impressions of Mario, the plumber surprises him with a fireball-covered fist directly in the gut. Mario then smacks him in the side of the face, punches him, hits him in the stomach twice, and uppercuts him off of the platform and head-first into the floor below, knocking the Magikoopa out cold. Mario jumps off the platform and gets his hat back, then puts it back on and gets back on the platform. Luigi joins him, and the two turn to Bowser as he begins to laugh.

"Good show... Well, since Kamek failed to defeat you losers, I guess I'll have to have a vote on it. People of Dark Land! Who shall I have wipe out these pests?"

The audience almost immediately begins to chant the word, "Hookbill" extremely loudly. Hearing this, an evil smile makes its way across Bowser's face.

"Excellent choice, my subjects! Come on out, Hookbill!"

The two Mario Bros. turn to see an enormous Koopa Troopa walking down very slowly. The Koopa is cross-eyed and looks so stupid that he appears impervious to pain. He jumps onto the platform and looks down at the two brothers evilly.

"Now then," Bowser starts out, "Hookbill, finish them!" The gigantic Koopa immediately goes into his shell and begins to go around in circles inside of it, making Mario and Luigi have to dodge it like they would a car in the same predicament. Eventually, Hookbill decides that this isn't working and comes out of his shell, instead taking to randomly stomping after the brothers. Again, however, their speed makes the Koopa unable to do damage. Once again, Hookbill decides to change strategies, this time jumping and slamming his fists into the ground in hopes of rocking the platform. This does work, and soon both brothers are right in front of him. Hookbill takes this chance to do his own version of the Bowser Bomb, dropping down at the two. Both roll out of the way, and then run and kick Hookbill in the face at the same time and doing decent damage. As Hookbill slowly shuffles toward Luigi, Mario sneaks up behind the gigantic Koopa and grabs him by the tail. Around and around Hookbill goes, finally being thrown far into the distance.

"There's something in you two that makes me feel like fighting!" Bowser yells as he jumps out of his throne and onto the platform. He removes his crown and lays it on the ground below the platform then begins to talk to the two once more, "Face it, your last two wins against me have been flukes! After all, two pathetic humans cannot defeat the Koopa King!"

"Bowser!" the voice of Birdo shouts from off of the platform. The Koopa King turns around to see Birdo, Toad, Toadette, Peach, and the Master all standing before him. "Face it," Birdo continues, "Mario and Luigi can take you any day!"

"Fine!" Bowser shouts. "Then let's put it all on the line! If I win, I get the Mushroom Kingdom. But if you two win, your friends and you can go free!" With that, Bowser grabs Luigi and throws him back-first onto the floor, then laughs manically, "The Mushroom Kingdom will fall just as easily as Luigi here!"

"Good," Luigi says as he stands up. He then turns to Mario, "You got Kamek alone, so I want this guy." Mario thinks about it for a second, and then jumps off of the side of the platform. Luigi then runs at Bowser, kicking him in the face. Bowser roars furiously and charges in at Luigi, knocking the plumber to his feet. Luigi bounces right back to a standing position, then runs up close to Bowser and scores a few quick shots before Bowser grabs him by the throat and begins to bite at him. After doing this, King Koopa throws Luigi to the ground once more and jumps for a Bowser Bomb, which Luigi narrowly avoids. As Bowser gets back up, Luigi punches him in the face hard, only to be hit with Bowser's large shoulder and knocked back down. The tall brother pulls himself up and jumps out of the way of another shoulder, then hits the Green Missile, which knocks Bowser off-balance a little. Luigi then uppercuts the Koopa, but this does not do much to Bowser and only results in another shoulder ram on Luigi. Mario's brother jumps back up and then jumps on Bowser's head, landing on the ground. Bowser, infuriated, reaches over to his throne and pulls out a hammer laying next to it. The Koopa reaches back and throws the weapon at Luigi, who narrowly jumps into the air out of its way and grabs the weapon, throwing it back at Bowser.

The hammer hits dead-on, knocking Bowser to the ground for a second and giving Luigi a short moment to recuperate. Bowser gets back up again and picks the hammer back up, then begins spinning around in circles around the platform hammer-in-hand. Luigi narrowly avoids this deadly tactic, and manages to light his hand a-flame similar to what Mario did to Kamek before nailing Bowser in the gut. This move, along with all of Bowser's charging and spinning, completely knocks the air out of the Koopa who falls to one knee. Luigi backs up and runs at Bowser, running up the knee of the leg that is still standing and jumping off, kicking Bowser square in the face and knocking him out cold. The green plumber, immediately after defeating Bowser, does the same. All of Luigi's friends, including Mario, jump onto the platform and help Luigi up, carrying him out all while celebrating.

* * *

In Dark Land, near a familiar circular platform, the lava begins to bubble and the large purple alien figure known as Tatanga jumps out from the fires once more. Looking up into the sky, Tatanga begins to laugh hysterically as he contemplates his next attack...

The End


End file.
